Bittersweet
by secretfanficlover
Summary: Fleur Delacour is not used to feeling insecure. When she lands in the hospital things turn out better than everyone could have hoped for.


**This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.**

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Word Count: 1560

Title: Bittersweet

Beta: Aya Diefair

Warnings: Euphemism's for mentioned past rape, illness

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Summer Camp

Week 8: Write about someone being really clumsy and ending up in St Mungo's.

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Golden Snitch

[Name] Crissie

[School] Uagadou

[House] Ogyinae

Ollivanders: Willow: Write about a popular character's insecurity.

AU month: Category Three: Song Prompt- With a Little Help From My Friends - Beetles -used as dialogue

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Hogwarts:

Yearly:

Prompt 851 [Relationship Type] Crush

Word 1 [Word] Treasure

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Fleur and Gabrielle were going out for a stroll in the park. The family had planned a picnic later that day, so Fleur wanted to get some exercise.

Then Fleur spotted what her sister was wearing.

"Change your shirt, I can't be seen with you like that," Fleur muttered when she saw the pink crop top Gabrielle had on with a pair of Muggle jeans.

"First of all, I look good in this shirt," she said, twirling to look in the mirror. "Second of all, I look good in this shirt. Third of all, I look good in this shirt. Now, tell me I don't look good in this shirt."

"You look trashy," Fleur said to her sister. Her sister's face turned red in anger. "It's an abomination," she added.

"How dare you…" she started angrily.

"I'm your sister, and you need to listen to me," Fleur insisted. "We don't need Muggles staring at you; remember what Mother said happened to Grandmother."

The youngest turned pale at being reminded of what the nasty man had done to their grandmother. Her grandmother was a Veela with strong allure; a Muggle man decided to take her as his without her consent.

Fleur hadn't intended to scare her sister, but they needed to be extra careful when in the Muggle world since these things could happen to a Veela woman when she had a strong appeal to Muggle men.

The sisters were wandering through the forest, and Fleur laughed at her sister skipping through the field covered in small white flowers. Gabrielle had added a wide-rimmed flower hat to her outfit to keep the sun off her fair skin.

She decided to take out her small portable camera and snapped a shot of her skipping sister. Gabrielle was giggling as she ran and jumped. She would treasure this moment they had forever. As much as she worried about Gabrielle, she knew her sister had a decent sense of mind and wouldn't get herself into trouble.

"I'm so happy! It's just like I always dreamed." Gabrielle said, excitedly.

The two of them enjoyed the day out with their parents, sitting and talking about school and everything going on in their lives. Fleur was relieved her parents had not been upset with her for causing Gabrielle to be taken by merpeople for the Triwizard task. She was scared her failure would have angered her father.

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Fleur never had a problem with self-confidence that was until she had her first crush. Bill Weasley wasn't classically handsome, and he wasn't well dressed or particularly charming. She saw him for the first time during the Triwizard Cup.

She was worried about her accent, her clothes, and if her hair was messed up. Bill seemed so relaxed around everyone, and he didn't fall over himself to get to her like most others. This was when the popular Fleur ended up being fascinated with the oldest Weasley brother.

"Would you believe in love at first sight?" Fleur heard one of Bill's friends asking.

"Yes, I'm certain that it happens all the time," he replied. His response made Fleur's heart skip a beat. She didn't watch where she was walking, and the usually graceful witch was so busy watching the redhead that she tripped, which caused her wand to fire off a spell that ricocheted and knocked her back, causing the world to descend into the darkness around her…

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"Oh, mamma, I'm so scared…"

"Give it time, Gabrielle."

"Yeah, that hex almost killed her, we are lucky we got her here in time."

Fleur could hear sounds around her, but the blackness didn't dissipate. She recognized some voices as her mother and her sister, but the last… was it Bill Weasley? She wasn't sure. She tried to move her hand, trying to reach out to show them she was back, but nothing happened. She had gotten stuck in this perpetual darkness. What is worse, she had no idea if she would be able to move again.

She felt the soft hand of her sister touching her arm and tried to move her arm, even an inch, but nothing happened.

"Won't you leave?" she heard her sister mutter.

"Gabrielle! Don't be rude," her mother reprimanded. Fleur wanted to laugh, that was just like her sister.

"I can do this all day," she heard the man's voice—Bill.

"This is all your fault," Gabrielle accused.

"Really?" he replied indignantly. It was clear he was brushing Gabrielle off. It was what she needed sometimes.

"Yes, she tripped because of you, if you hadn't distracted her, she would never have ended up here," Gabrielle insisted.

"I know you can't blame me for what happened, it was an accident, but I do care for her," Bill replied. His voice sounded guarded through the confession.

"Yuck, I hate boys," Gabrielle said, seemingly after Bill had left.

"That will change, dear," her mother replied.

"I doubt that," she responded. Fleur had to agree, as girly and petite as her sister was, she still suspected her sister might be interested in girls.

Weeks passed as she kept trying to move, but nothing happened, soon she could feel more, and after a while, the darkness faded. She could see Bill sitting by her bedside, holding her hand. She could see her mother and her sister, often together at her bedside. She saw the stark hospital colours, and she recognized her surroundings as St Mungo's.

The walls, the bed, everything was white and clinical. After the darkness, the white hurt Fleur's eyes. But her eyelids couldn't close, so her eyes adjusted after a while. She felt like she got frozen in time.

"We need to fix this. Now." Gabrielle insisted one day. Fleur wasn't sure what they meant by all this. She could feel that time has passed by the change in Gabrielle's tone. There was desperation, but Fleur believed that they must be getting along better as time went by.

"We have been over this," Bill said. "There is nothing we can do but wait."

"How do you manage to get by?" Gabrielle muttered.

"I get by with a little help from my friends and family," Bill replied.

"She is my family, don't you understand?" Gabrielle asked, but her tone lacked the usual venom.

She was wearing the abomination of a pink crop top again, and without Fleur to object, she hadn't been told to change.

Fleur felt her hands itching to smack her for willingly leaving the house dressed like that.

The two were talking until suddenly Bill stopped talking and looked at her, right at her.

"Did she just move?" he asked.

His voice held an excitement that made her want to run into his arms and tell him how she felt about him. She had lots of time to wonder why he was always around. The only thing that made sense was that he cared about her, whether this was romantic or just because he was good-natured and kind.

She was exhausted, just the small movement had tired her out. She fell asleep suddenly and awoke to voices whispering excitedly. She rolled over and scoffed at them.

"Gosh, what's with all the racket?" she said. She was wondering if Gabrielle was having a tantrum or something. Her voice sounded hoarse when she spoke, and she muttered, "What do I need to do to get a glass of water around here?"

The next minute a million things seemed to happen at once. Fleur recognized where she was—St Mungo's. Was she sick? She remembered a strange dream…

Her mother screamed and passed out, causing the Mediwitch to run to her side. Gabrielle's eyes widened to the size of saucepans, and Bill calmly poured a glass over water from a jug and walked over to her bedside.

"It wasn't a dream," she said after taking a gulp, she was thirsty. She finished the glass in seconds and without a word, Bill handed her another drink.

"No, it wasn't a dream," Bill said. It was like his focus was only on her. The Mediwitch revived her mother while her sister was gaping at her.

"You're awake," she said.

"Of course I am," Fleur replied, eyes wide.

"Do you remember what happened?" Gabrielle asked at the same time as Bill said.

"How are you feeling?"

"I can't think that fast; I'm compromised!" Fleur replied, overwhelmed. Her sister was crowding her and making her dizzy. The Mediwitch told her to leave, and after complaining about Bill not needing too, she eventually left with a last backward glance at him.

"So, are you okay?" Bill asked, his voice was soft and laced with velvet.

"It felt like a dream; it felt like I was high," she admitted reluctantly. He sat down on the bed like she remembered him doing, retaking her hand. She squeezed his hand, to remind herself that she was indeed back. The feeling sent spikes of pain through her hand.

"Take it easy, your body needs to heal," he said in a reassuring voice.

"Thank you," she said.

"For what?" he replied.

"Staying. Why did you?" Fleur asked.

"Because I care," he said, his brown eyes held a depth of confession more than his words.

The two of them shared a moment, and it was a soft wordless understanding that showed her he saw more than just what was on the outside.


End file.
